The incident happened Sunday on the final practice run by a seniors theater group for their production of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men."

One actor picked up a pistol he had borrowed from another cast member and fired it at the head of fellow actor Fred Kellerman, who was playing the character Lenny. At the end of the play, Lenny takes a fatal gunshot to the head.

"I heard a loud bang. I knew something was wrong. But I never passed out," Kellerman told The Bradenton Herald.

He was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment. Kellerman said doctors determined the bullet tore into his skull, ricocheted off bone, then came back out and tore off a piece of his ear, the Herald reported. Doctors sewed the piece of ear back on, Kellerman said.

"It took a chunk off my ear, but I was told it will grow together. I really feel no pain," he told the newspaper. "I was really lucky."

The gun was supplied by a member of the Sarasota Senior Theater group, Bradenton police said. The group had used the gun in the past as a prop, but the member told police she did not check to see if the gun was loaded when she brought it for the show Sunday.